Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Week 15 Prompt:

Book Displays
This is the number one way that I, and I think most libraries, promote their fiction collections. Book display ideas are practically endless. You can go on Pinterest or just do a Google search to come up with thousands of ideas. They can be as simple as a shelf with a sign or something more elaborate that really draws people into the display. There can be props involved or promotional material available that relates to the books being displayed.

Social Media
My library is connected to a website called Wowbrary that does a weekly update and newsletter letting people know what new materials we have gotten over the past week. We feature this each week on our Facebook page as well. It lets patrons know what is new and encourages them to check out or place holds on the items. We also have blogs that feature staff recommendations throughout our whole system. Occasionally, we will post fun little booklists that appeal to different readers.

Book Talks
I think book talks are a great way to introduce different books that people might not know about. I particularly like them for the middle and high school crowd. Teens seem hesitant to pick up a book that they haven't heard about. Doing book talks for schools, either in person or via video uploads, shows teens new material and gets them excited about books, especially since they can discuss them with their friends.

We chose the same three methods! Speaking of video uploads, I thought it was pretty awesome there was an event at a New York Public Library a couple of years ago which utilized Google Handouts and had author Stephen Chbosky "speak" to fans at the library from somewhere else in the world. You can read about it here if you like. https://americanlibrariesmagazine.org/2013/07/16/how-libraries-are-using-social-media/